Sony: 3D costs as low as 'half a percent' of overhead

With excitement for 3D movies waning, and adoption of 3D televisions still low, many have openly wondered: "is it worth it?" Sony's Simon Benson argues that the low amount of effort it takes to implement the technology makes it an easy choice.

Sony is easily one of the most vocal supporters of 3D content in the marketplace. Many of its upcoming first-party titles, including Resistance 3 and Uncharted 3, support stereoscopic 3D. However, with excitement for 3D movies waning, and adoption of 3D televisions still low, many have openly wondered: "is it worth it?"
Simon Benson, SCEE's senior development manager and 3D evangelist, obviously thinks so. He argues that the low amount of effort it takes to implement the technology makes it an easy choice. "It's not a significant overhead for us. It’s not like we have to justify being able to sell millions millions more games because of it, it’s just another feature of the game."
Speaking to GI.biz, Benson says that the cost of 3D on overall performance is rather low, especially if the game supports a split-screen mode:

What we’re talking about here is, in some cases we’ve had titles where 3D has been half a per cent of overhead. It can literally be the render programmer spending a couple of weeks manipulating it. Particularly if a game already has split screen in it, just take that mode of the game and reauthor it to deliver really high quality 3D. So often it’s the case of it doesn’t even hit the radar of whether we should or shouldn’t, it can just be done.

But isn't Benson concerned about the low adoption rates of 3DTVs? His inability to offer concrete sales figures of Sony's own 3DTVs should be some indication that 3D has, simply put, not caught on. That's no worry to Benson, who points to the future. "I think what probably going to happen over time is it’ll be the case like now, if you try and go out and buy an standard definition TV you probably just wouldn’t be able to."
Sony plans on releasing a PlayStation-branded 3DTV, a first for the company, later this year.